Sourdough surragacy :)

By Annie-Bali

Created 2009 Jul 11 - 20:40

Yes, I did want your attention, if only to praise the generosity of spirit & knowledge i have received from the bakers on this site.I have been living in Bali for 4 months,& had been trying, not very successfully, to start a sourdough starter from scratch. I have BIG shoes to try to fill, my daughter Gabby, in cold Melbourne, inspired me to start making sourdough as she was turning out the most wonderful stuff you could imagine. My 1st problem was obtaining flour. The only organic I could get here had been 'gamma irradiated' so.............this is where the surrogacy & adoption takes place. Apart from sharing recipes and other advice, I was the very grateful recipient of some 'baby starter' from TP in Malaysia, another hot weather baker & a VERY generous woman. Not only did I get to adopt some of her proven starter, she has provided me (and many, many others) with sage advice, insightful picture viewing (....was the bread a bit moist? How long did you cook it? maybe .......) You get my drift, this kind of generous observations is soooooooo helpful to a beginner like me.I was so worried when her starter did not seem to act the way I had read on this site, I began to fear I may have 'killed her baby', not something a midwife like me wants/has ever done especially as it had travelled all the way from KL to Bali unaccompanied:)I persisted, asked TP numerous questions and finally, after much 'tinkering' with my new bay, got an active 7 thriving starter. Was I excited :)So, back to surragacy, if you have an active starter, you may wish to 'share it' with another baby baker' like me. I am indebited to people like TP, Graham & others on this site for all the support, encouragement & words of advice. My 1st loaf was a joy to prepare, a delight to eat & I am 'chuffed' at what I was able to produce. And YES, for those who are looking at this foto, it is flat on top. I have learnt yet another thing about 'hot climate baking'. I need to keep my pre-leven in the fridge as I had a 'Mt Vesuvius moment' when I checked on my baby loaf in the morning after it had been sitting on the bench overnight, and discovered it had over-poured the tin!! However, I was also very glad to know that it was an active enough dough for it to even do that !!! I did not want to re knead it (I am a tad impatient!) so just peeled off the damp tea towel, scraped the excess off the tin and went right ahead to BAKING !!! So, lets have a big cheer for adopting and for the kindness of 'strangers' who have a special place in my heart. Thanks Teck Poh, you are a true 'baker' and a great mother of my (still going great guns) sourdough starter. Ohhhhh I don't seem to be able to add a picture of my bread BUT it is on the 'recent images' at the home page

[quote=Annie-Bali]Yes, I did want your attention, if only to praise the generosity of spirit & knowledge i have received from the bakers on this site.I have been living in Bali for 4 months,& had been trying, not very successfully, to start a sourdough starter from scratch. I have BIG shoes to try to fill, my daughter Gabby, in cold Melbourne, inspired me to start making sourdough as she was turning out the most wonderful stuff you could imagine. My 1st problem was obtaining flour. The only organic I could get here had been 'gamma irradiated' so.............this is where the surrogacy & adoption takes place. Apart from sharing recipes and other advice, I was the very grateful recipient of some 'baby starter' from TP in Malaysia, another hot weather baker & a VERY generous woman. Not only did I get to adopt some of her proven starter, she has provided me (and many, many others) with sage advice, insightful picture viewing (....was the bread a bit moist? How long did you cook it? maybe .......) You get my drift, this kind of generous observations is soooooooo helpful to a beginner like me.I was so worried when her starter did not seem to act the way I had read on this site, I began to fear I may have 'killed her baby', not something a midwife like me wants/has ever done especially as it had travelled all the way from KL to Bali unaccompanied:)I persisted, asked TP numerous questions and finally, after much 'tinkering' with my new bay, got an active 7 thriving starter. Was I excited :)So, back to surragacy, if you have an active starter, you may wish to 'share it' with another baby baker' like me. I am indebited to people like TP, Graham & others on this site for all the support, encouragement & words of advice. My 1st loaf was a joy to prepare, a delight to eat & I am 'chuffed' at what I was able to produce. And YES, for those who are looking at this foto, it is flat on top. I have learnt yet another thing about 'hot climate baking'. I need to keep my pre-leven in the fridge as I had a 'Mt Vesuvius moment' when I checked on my baby loaf in the morning after it had been sitting on the bench overnight, and discovered it had over-poured the tin!! However, I was also very glad to know that it was an active enough dough for it to even do that !!! I did not want to re knead it (I am a tad impatient!) so just peeled off the damp tea towel, scraped the excess off the tin and went right ahead to BAKING !!! So, lets have a big cheer for adopting and for the kindness of 'strangers' who have a special place in my heart. Thanks Teck Poh, you are a true 'baker' and a great mother of my (still going great guns) sourdough starter. Ohhhhh I don't seem to be able to add a picture of my bread BUT it is on the 'recent images' at the home page[/quote]http://sourdough.com/gallery/v/user/Annie-Bali/TP_s+starter-4.jpg.html

You will be surprised at how quickly your baking will improve with all the help you get here with such generous people around like TP. I found the photos of your bread and you are right to be happy with your first loaf...Plenty of nice holes in the crumb which is always a good start :) what kind of flour did you end up using?

Guys, you're embarassing me. Actually, it's all due to your own perseverence..

Behold the fruit of Annie's labour... From this....

To this....Ta Da!!! Look at the beautiful holes...

I went to Annie's picture, right-click to get the properties, and, copied the url.

By the way, Annie, you did right not to re-knead the overflowed dough. It might have been running short of food already and may not have enough oomph to raise another time. It's advisable, for sourdough, 'to be gentle'. ;)

Glad to know I 'instinctively' did the correct thing by not re kneading. Yes i was impatient to get it into the ovedn, but, I had a sense (from reading all the past posts on this site) that if i 'knocked it down' it may never have got up again ;)The new starter you sent TP + the fabulous flour has been a winner. Already doubled in sizee so should be able to make another loaf this week. YippeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeAlso, the colour is paler, so i now have 3 lots of starter, in various stages, all from your 1 baby !!! What a producer, you produced (LOL)Love Annie

Hi Jonny, re 'flour', the only kind i can get here in Bali is Indonesian produced, white, highly processed breed & noodle flour. Ohhhhh, I so wish i could get some real flour like the kinds I drool over in peoples blogs :)I tried the only imported organic from a 'health food store' in Ubud but was ? Gamma Irradiated & VERY expensive, about $10 AUS for 500G !!! So, as long as I keep the good stuff, courtesy of TP for feeding my starter, I will have to make do with what i can get here. Anyone wanting a holiday in Bali, I can trade B&B for flour :)Think I will also 'approach' a local baker to see if I can purchase some flour from them, will see what i can do & keep you postedAnnie